Frank Thompson (thompfr01)

Frank Thompson
born Augustus Fernandez

• Bats Unknown, Throws Unknown
• Height 5' 5", Weight 135 lb.

• Debut April 26, 1875
• Final Game September 11, 1875
• Born June 27, 1854 in Madeira Portugal
• Died October 30, 1925 in Brooklyn, NY USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Frank Thompson was actually two players, or more accurately his record in the National Association in 1875 was wrongly attributed to two different players. He first played 11 games for the Washington Nationals, hitting .098, between April 26th and May 17th, and then played one game for the Brooklyn Atlantics, a team that went 2-42, on September 11th. The confusion stems from the fact that in records kept of the Washington team, he was simply listed as "Thompson", and the connection between the two playing records was not definitely made until 2018. He probably should be listed as the regular catcher for Washington, since he appeared in as many games as Bill McCloskey, who is listed as the regular catcher, and he had more chances. He and McCloskey had the same number of plate appearances. He is sometimes wrongly listed as Andrew Thompson and has also been confused with A.M. Thompson, although the two are clearly discrete individuals.

Frank Thompson was a catcher for Washington, but he also played part of one game for Washington in the outfield and his one game for Brooklyn was as an outfielder. After his time in the National Association, he played for a team in Erie, PA in 1877, where the local paper mentioned he came from Brooklyn, NY and had previously played for a club in Bridgeport, CT. That was confirmed by a note in the New York Clipper in 1875 that stated that Bridgeport's catcher Frank Thompson had played for Washington earlier in the season. He played for various teams during the 1870s, including a club in Chelsea, MA in 1879 that also featured Candy Cummings (best known as the inventor of the curveball). That is important, because Thompson's obituary in the Brooklyn Standard Union for Augustus Fernandez calls him a baseball player who was the first man to catch a curveball from Cummings (which was not necessarily correct, given they were teammates after their respective major league careers). Fernandez was a veteran of the United States Navy who was discharged in 1874 and had adopted the playing name of Frank Thompson. He was originally born on the island of Madeira, which makes him the first baseball player to be born in Portugal. No other Portuguese-born player would appear for almost a century-and-a-half, when Isaiah Campbell made his big league debut for the Seattle Mariners on July 7, 2023. Seattle had only been incorporated as a city a little over five years prior to Thompson's National Association debut.

Further Reading

• "Frank Thompson Found", in Bill Carle, ed.: Biographical Research Committee Report, SABR, March/April 2018, p. 1.
• "Frank Thompson Birth Found", in Bill Carle, ed.: Biographical Research Committee Report, SABR, July/August 2023, p. 1.

Related Sites

• BR page for Thompson